What the Truck?!

In late July, some mates and I headed to the Oxfordshire countryside to spend a few sweaty days at Truck Festival (spoiler alert: there were no Trucks). 

This was my second consecutive year at Truck, and although I didn’t love the big headliners on this lineup, I was excited by some of the smaller acts - also, I’d already bought my ticket the previous year before the lineup was announced, so I was going either way.

What started as a local independent music festival in the late '90s has slowly become one of the UK’s best-known mid-sized festivals. Self-proclaimed as “the UK’s most warped village fête”, it has a fiercely indie core with a good mix of rock, punk, and EDM thrown in for good measure.

Thursday

For an extra £30, we got “early bird” Thursday entry tickets, which allowed us to get first pick at the best camping spots as well as squeeze in one extra night of partying.

After about an hour of kicking our tents and bags along the floor in the queue, we were let into the campsite and found a great spot about a minute's walk away from the arena entrance and set up camp.

The only band we saw that evening were the opening headliners Bloc Party, who performed their 2005 debut album Silent Alarm in full. Bloc Party is one of the few 2000s/2010s bands on the lineup that I’d heard of but never properly listened to. Frontman Kele Okereke put on a mega performance, though, and the crowd seemed to love it.

Post Bloc Party, we attempted to get into one of the two silent discos going on that night, but found out that the headphones were on a strict “pre-booking only” basis, so that was a flop. Luckily, we could hear the incredibly non-silent DnB tent from our campsite, so that made up for it.

Friday

Friday was a scorcher of a day, which kicked off with a crowd-pleasing performance from Blossoms on the main stage. 

Highlight for me, though, was Manchester-based quartet Loose Articles, whose disco-punk energy spread through the crowd like wildfire. Halfway through the set, Natalie Wardle (vocals/bass) and Erin Caine (vocals/guitar) jumped into the crowd and used the mic cable to hold an impromptu limbo competition (one I took part in but sadly didn’t win).

Other punk bands should be taking note.

An hour later in the same tent, Lambrini Girls brought both the rage and the passion to a crowd so rammed that it was spilling out the sides. 

They're another band that I hadn’t really listened to that much, but have become a huge fan of since - signing off the set with the beautifully named Cuntology 101.

Nothing But Thieves finished the night on the main stage, another headliner I should probably know more about, but don’t think I could name a single song - great live performance though.

Saturday 

Saturday was the main day for me, with a whole afternoon of back-to-back sets.  This warranted some careful planning with my friends and me to make sure we all stayed together (naturally, we all lost each other after half an hour). 

First up was CMAT on the main stage, who - despite the 30 degree heat - had the whole crowd doing the “Dunboyne County Meath 2 Step” for I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby! Not ashamed to say I cried at that one. I didn’t know the moves to the Take A Sexy Picture Of Me TikTok dance, but it was great to see those who did have a whale of a time. 

Brilliant set all round.

After that, it was a half-hour wait in the relentless sun for Wunderhorse.

Jacob Slater and the boys ripped through their set like the festival veterans they are, and the risk of heatstroke was worth it. Sadly, they did finish about 10 minutes early, but I later saw that it was due to Jacob having a serious tooth infection, so I’ll let them off for that one.

Fat Dog had a few tech issues, so they started 20 minutes late, but the energy they threw out into the crowd made up for it. Tragically, the smoke and the dust brought on my first asthma attack since Reading 2016 (Boy Better Know mosh pit - it was a different time for me), which meant I had to finish off the set lying on the floor outside the tent. Although I had no ventolin inhaler, I did have a £14 hoisin duck wrap and some Last Dinner Party to help recover.

Once I'd caught my breath (literally), I hightailed it to another tent for Liverpool locals, Courting, who had amazing energy from start to finish. The crowd loved them, and it was clear the band were having a great time on stage.

Kasabian were the headliners that night, and I was stoked to see the two songs I actually knew (Fire and that other one), and they didn’t disappoint - great end to a hectic day. 

Sunday

Sunday was a much calmer day with a focus on recovery for me and the rest of my camp. The 4 am finishes and early starts were beginning to get to me at my grand old age of 26. 

I did still manage to catch a few great acts, though, namely Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten was a joy to see live, World News, Chloe Slater, Sports Team, and Franz Ferdinand. The last of which shared the news that the Lionesses had beaten Spain in the Women’s Euro finals that afternoon. I'm not a football fan myself, but I still went wild with the rest of the crowd.

Returning legends, Oxford Symphony Orchestra took over the main stage to perform some much-needed calming tunes to a slightly worse-for-wear audience. A handful of hardcore fans managed to break out a few mosh pits to the classical soundtrack, which was a beautiful sight to see.

The final act of the festival was Maxïmo Park, not to sound like a broken record, but I don’t think I could name a single one of their songs if I tried. They were a good live show, though and watching the fireworks show that signified the end of the festival with all of my friends around me brought a little tear to my eye. 

I went to bed that night absolutely shattered and slightly dreading the long trek back to the car the next morning.

*Honk!* *Honk!*

For only my second year at Truck, I can safely say I’m a full-blown convert to the festival. It’s a beautiful arrangement that I couldn’t recommend to anyone enough, small enough to feel familiar but large enough to attract some immense acts. 

For those like myself who’ve grown out of the messy scene of Reading and Leeds, Truck is a more relaxed weekend, but still with buckets of heart to give you. 

All there is to say is thank you to Truck Festival, and I hope it keeps on Truckin’ along for many years to come.